What a strange situation this had become.
While I concentrated on using Alchemy to craft bullets and weapons for Penny, I heaved a sigh.
All I wanted to do in this country was meet Hinata, one of the Seven Maidens of Midgar, and determine whether or not she was the same as me inside. As long as I managed that, I'd planned to get out as soon as possible, but I guess things just weren't that convenient.
They were one step away from civil war even without me stepping in. If I left them alone, they'd self-destruct.
And that was bad. What was bad about it? If the country imploded and Hinata got killed, humanity would have lost one of its protectors and been pushed even closer to the brink.
And the reason for this war was half my fault. I couldn't just ignore this. Basically, one thousand years ago when Hinata defeated Naru, the white wings and colored wings who had started to get along split into two distinct and opposing factions. And now they were about ready to go at it at any time.
…Yeah, uhh, this is no good.
Anyway, first, I need to do something about this situation.
I'd asked Penny to capture that grimmfolk leader, Mercury, but it would be better for me to do what I could before that happened. And the most obvious thing to me was to have Hinata actually do something about both sides.
Honestly, this was the best, least-troublesome solution. Especially since some part of the blame lay with her, in my opinion. So if I spurred her into action somehow, it shouldn't be impossible to stop this civil war before it started.
But I was a famous villain, and the people of this country lived long lives, so they totally remembered me. I mean, they had a statue up and everything. That meant boldly walking in through the front door was out of the question.
But going in covered in a robe was also bad. I'd just be suspicious anyway. If that were the case, then maybe I should try cross-dressing like I'd thought of earlier.
I can do something about the clothes with Alchemy. First, I tied my hair up behind my neck and used fake glasses to hide my face. I wore a black hat to change the impression I gave. Then I bound my chest tightly and put on a white shirt. Black should be a fine color for the pants.
Lastly, I wore the usual golden mantle over everything and hid my wings with the stealth bandages.
"Hmmm… We just need to do something about this way of speech…" I checked myself out in front of a mirror I created.
Hm, it's kind of… It's weird saying this about myself, but even if I cross-dress I still come off kinda girly since I was originally super pretty. My face is still a little too pretty to be a man's. Maybe a fake beard…? No, a beard would be too unnatural for this face.
If I'd known this was going to happen I would have taken the Strider's disguise ability… It was a fun skill that let people change their appearance for a while.
Damn! I had ignored the skill since you needed to pay for it on top of it being dead useless in most cases, but it would have been really good here.
And most importantly, there was my speech pattern. Even if I tried, it just didn't want to budge. It was as if something inside me was resisting. My speech pattern was stubbornly set in place.
It's too bad, but I guess I have no choice but to pretend to be mute.
"May I come in now, Master Naru?"
"Yes, you may."
While I was posing in front of the mirror, Penny opened the door and entered.
It didn't really matter, but I was currently in my private room at the inn. Surprisingly, this inn had a private room inside the larger room we were renting.
No, don't just say that's normal. It's pretty rare for this world.
So, I was currently using that room to try on my disguise.
At first, Penny wanted to help me change, but I rejected that. I could just imagine the weird clothes she'd put me in if I left it to her. It was scary.
"How is it, Penny? Does it suit us?"
"Anything you wear always suits you, Master Naru. However, at the risk of sounding rude, I will opine that the way you look will probably excite any homosexual man."
"…Uh, you don't need to say that."
She really doesn't pull any punches, does she? Well, it's better than being weirdly considerate.
Actually, Fiona says pretty much whatever she wants, too, and Haruka's also similarly free. Could it be? Do all of my subordinates just not know what tact is?
"If I were to suggest something, I would say that you should wear sunglasses rather than glasses."
"Understood. That sounds like it would work."
True, my face was well-known. Just glasses might not have been enough.
Let's make sunglasses later.
"Also, We have finished transmuting your supplies. They are over there, so take what you like." I pointed to a corner of the room.
"You have my thanks."
Penny bowed before walking over to where I'd left the weaponry I'd made for her. Then, after some clattering noises, she stored everything somewhere within her body.
…No, wait a second. How did you just do that? There was clearly more there than would ever fit in your body…
"My probability of capturing Mercury has now risen. The next time we meet will be his last," Penny said, sounding really reliable.
I do feel like this is raising some sort of flag, but I can't think of any reason why she would lose.
Considering the member of the Seven Grimms of Destruction (lol) I'd fought before, Mercury should only be around level 300. Penny's attribute countered him, too. Penny should win by a landslide.
Let's just leave Mercury to Penny for now. I should figure out how to get to Hinata. And I could get Fiona and Haruka to go investigate the extremists or something. I'm kind of curious how big the white-wing faction's 'volunteer army' is anyway.
"By the way, Master Naru, I have not seen Haruka for a while now. Do you know where she might be?"
"Can you not figure that out using your sensors?"
"No, she is not within 100 km of our current location. I can only surmise she is somewhere outside of this country," Penny said, sounding puzzled.
Something came to me. "Ah!" I lightly smacked my fist onto my open palm. She'd probably just used teleportation magic to go back to the Ouzel tower.
Oh right, Penny doesn't know Haruka can use teleportation magic.
"You need not worry. She can use teleportation magic. She's most likely returned to the Heart tower to raise money or something."
"Teleportation magic… Could that be Xgate?"
"Hm? No. Come to think of it, We have not heard any specifics on it."
"That is surprising. Is there some sort of spell other than Xgate for teleportation in this day and age?"
I felt a light headache coming on after hearing what Penny said.
What is it…? I feel like something's wrong…
…No, that's not important right now. But I do understand Penny's surprise. After all, one thousand years ago teleportation magic didn't exist.
Ahh, right. No such convenient magic existed in Xgate Online.
There were many ways to travel in the game. There was a way to instantly get to a different location, of course, but that was just fast travel—immediately switching from one map to another. In the game, you were still treated as having traveled there normally. The only exception was Xgate.
But once again, the word only ever appeared in lore. No one could actually obtain it as a skill.
Then that would make Haruka's 'teleportation magic' either Xgate or some new spell that had appeared over the last one thousand years.
But why was this…? Why did I only remember something like this now? Why had I just accepted it like it was only natural?
"Master Naru?"
"A-ahh, right. Now that We think about it, Haruka never told us what it was. Let us ask her when she returns."
Now that I think about it, I don't actually know much about Haruka at all.
It was certain that she had been a background NPC in the game, but in terms of information, that was near nothing. She was neither a golem I'd taken an active hand in creating, like Penny, nor a monster that I'd tamed, like Fiona.
I don't really… No, I really don't like the idea of it, but we might need to have a talk once she comes back.